How to Order Custom Awards. A Buyer's Guide for First Timers

You just volunteered to handle awards for this year's event, and now you're staring at a blank order form. How to order custom awards starts to run through your head. How many ribbons do you need? What's the difference between a flat ribbon and a rosette? Will everything actually arrive before the big day? If your stomach tightens a little, you're in good company.

Ordering custom awards doesn't have to be stressful, and you don't have to figure it out alone. This blog walks first-time buyers through every decision that matters, what to figure out before you order, how to avoid last-minute disasters, what a successful order looks like, and how to stay on budget when awards range from a few cents to a few hundred dollars. The great news is that the right award maker does this work with you, and Hodges Badge Company has guided first-timers through it since 1920.

What Should You Figure Out Before Ordering Custom Awards?

Before ordering custom awards, nail down four things: your event date, the number of placements per class, your total quantity, and your budget. Events are bigger than first-timers expect. One county fair reported nearly 5,000 entries from about 700 youth participants in 2025, so quantity planning matters.

Work through these four questions before you touch an order form:

• Your hard deadline: the date awards must be in hand, not just shipped.
• Placements per class: 1st through 6th? A Champion and Reserve Champion?
• Total quantity across every class, combined into one order.
• Your budget, and how to split it between premium top awards and everyday placements.

One tip saves real money, most awards offer quantity price breaks. Ordering your full count at once almost always beats reordering in batches later, when matching ribbons may no longer be available in time.

Not sure how to count placements or which styles fit your event? You don't have to guess. Hodges Badge's US-based customer service award specialists have helped first-time buyers map this out for over a century, and a quick call sorts it in minutes. Customer Service is available: 8:30AM to 5:30PM EST Monday - Friday, at  800.556.2440 or have a question on the weekend, drop them a quick email at customerservice@hodgesbadge.com.

What Goes Wrong When Award Orders Are Left to the Last Minute?

The biggest risk in how to order custom awards is timing. Unlike most purchases, your event date can't move. A horse show, swim meet, dog show or county fair happens on a fixed day in front of your whole community. Custom orders typically need 7 to 12 business days to produce, so a late order can mean you have to pay additional rush service fees or have no awards at all. 

When awards don't arrive, the fallout is public. Volunteers scramble, kids and athletes go home empty-handed, and an organization that worked all year looks unprepared in front of families, sponsors, and members. These are the traps that catch first-time buyers:

• Underordering, then finding you can't reorder matching ribbons in time.
• Choosing a fully custom design without leaving room for production.
• Confusing "ship date" with "in-hand date" and forgetting transit time.
• Splitting the order into rushed batches and losing quantity discounts.

There's a bigger reason to get this right. Roughly 70% of kids drop out of organized sports by age 13, according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association's 2024 Topline Participation Report. A ribbon or medal in a young competitor's hand is a small, tangible reason to come back next season. Missing that moment carries a cost that's hard to measure but easy to feel.

What Does a Successful Award Order Actually Look Like?

How to order custom awards comes down to planning. A successful award order arrives early, complete, and matching: every placement covered, every color and print correct, with a few extras for ties or surprise entries. You open the boxes a week before your event, check them against your list, and move on, knowing the awards are handled.

Picture award day going right. The Grand Champion rosette looks as impressive as the moment deserves. Every class has its full set of placements. The printing is crisp, the colors match, and the ribbons feel substantial in a winner's hand. Nobody asks "where are the awards?" because they're already laid out and ready.

Getting there comes down to three habits:

1. Order early. Give yourself a cushion well beyond the production estimate.
2. Order complete. Include every class, plus a small buffer for ties and extra entries.
3. Order consistent. Use one supplier so colors, prints, and styles match across the whole event.

 

How Do You Stay on Budget When Awards Cost Cents to Hundreds?

You stay on budget by tiering your awards. Reserve premium pieces such as engraved trophies, crystal, or silver for top honors, and use economical flat ribbons and rosettes for everyday placements. Because flat ribbons can cost just under $1.00 each while silver & crystal trophies run into the hundreds, blending keeps your average cost per award low.

Here's the trick first-timers miss: you don't have to choose between "cheap" and "impressive." You build a tier so a few showpieces carry the prestige while high-volume, low-cost ribbons and rosette keep the total in line. A simple structure looks like this:

Spread your spend this way and the math works in your favor. Order everything together, and quantity discounts stretch the budget even further, so you cover the entire event without overspending on any single piece.

Why Order Every Award From One American Maker?

Ordering all your awards from one experienced maker means consistent quality, one deadline to track, and one team that knows your event. Hodges Badge Company, Your FIRST PLACE for AWARDS® has handcrafted awards in the USA since 1920, turning more than 12 million yards of satin ribbon a year into rosettes and ribbons, so first-time buyers get a century of guidance, not guesswork.

Splitting an order across vendors multiplies the risk: mismatched colors, different ship dates, and no single point of contact when something goes wrong. A single maker that handles ribbons, rosettes, medals, trophies, crystal, and silver and much more removes that friction. It also answers the worries most first-time buyers have:

• "I don't know what I need." That's normal. Hodges Badge's customer service award specialists help first-timers choose styles, quantities, and placements every day.
• "Custom sounds expensive." Not with Hodges. Custom means your colors and your logo, not a bigger budget. Economical options start at just under $1.00 each.
• "What if I order wrong?" Ordering everything in one place with expert review is the simplest way to avoid mismatches and gaps.
• "Will it arrive in time?" Standard production runs about 7 to 12 business days, with rush options when your date is tight. 

What If Something Isn't Right With Your Order?

Here's the safety net first-time buyers want: Hodges Badge guarantees your satisfaction. If your order isn't right, they will make it right! President and CEO Rick Hodges personally stands behind that promise, so ordering feels less like a risk and more like a partnership.

That guarantee is the whole point of ordering from experts instead of gambling on the cheapest option. When you order from Hodges Badge, you're covered on every front:

• A satisfaction guarantee on every order, backed personally by the company's CEO.
• A US-based customer service team that helps you plan, proof, and place your order. They are available: 8:30AM to 5:30PM EST Monday - Friday, at  800.556.2440 or have a question or concern on the weekend, drop them a quick email at customerservice@hodgesbadge.com. 
• A century of experience, so your first event benefits from lessons learned since 1920.

Order from Hodges Badge and you have it covered. That's the difference between a vendor who ships a box and a partner who makes sure award day goes right.

How Do You Start Ordering Custom Awards With Confidence?

How to order custom awards starts by listing your event date, your classes, and how many placements each one needs. Then request a free quote or call a Hodges Badge customer service award specialist who can match styles and quantities to your budget. Sharing those details takes minutes and turns a stressful guessing game into a clear, confirmed plan.

From there, a customer service specialist confirms quantities, suggests styles, and flags anything missing before you commit, so your first order is right the first time. If a product turns out not to be the right fit, you'll know before you pay, not after.

That personal back-and-forth is the relationship, and it's exactly why first-time buyers come back year after year. Hodges Badge doesn't just take an order; they are your team helping you get award day right this year and every year after, with the same guarantee behind every order. Place Your First Award Order With Confidence Today with Hodges Badge Company, Inc. Your FIRST PLACE for AWARDS®.

How to order custom awards for the first time comes down to three things: plan early, order complete, and lean on people who care and do this every day. Get those right and award day takes care of itself. The ribbons match, the trophies impress, and every winner leaves with something to be proud of.

Hodges Badge Company has helped organizers get that moment right since 1920, and every order is backed by our satisfaction guarantee, so you're covered from your first ribbon to your final trophy. Ready to take the guesswork out of award day? Request a free quote, or call our US-based award customer service specialists at 800.556.2440, and we'll help you design awards that fit your event and your budget. Order from Hodges Badge Company, and we've got you!